The Australian Resuscitation Council has released new guidelines dated December 2010 relating to basic life support and CPR. There are significant changes to the traditional DRABCD which has now been replaced with DRSABCD. A key change is the prompt to send for help and the commencement of compressions before providing two rescue breaths to a non-responsive/non-breathing casualty.

A major review has been undertaken of Priorities in an Emergency, Unconsciousness, Breathing and the commencement of Compressions.

Steps in resuscitation are now referred to as' DRS ABCD' - check for Danger - check for Response - ‘S’ has been added for Send for help - ‘A’ directs rescuers to open the Airway - ‘B’ directs rescuers to check Breathing but no need to deliver two rescue breaths - ‘C’ directs rescuers to perform 30 Compressions to victims who are unresponsive and not breathing normally, followed by 2 breaths - ‘D’ directs rescuers to attach an AED as soon as it is available • The major change is that in the victim who is unresponsive and not breathing normally, CPR commences with chest compressions rather than rescue breaths. • If unwilling / unable to perform rescue breathing, then perform compression only.

 

The new ARC Basic Life Support Flowchart

 

Risk Response + Rescue has been monitoring the changes closely and will be amending training, assessment and life support protocols to reflect the new guidelines.

 

A summary of the major changes to Basic Life Support Guidelines dated December 2010 are;

GUIDELINE 2 - Priorities in an Emergency • Focus changed to cover a range of emergency situations not just cardiac arrest and includes collapsed and injured victims.

GUIDELINE 3 - Unconsciousness • Focus now on the breathing unconscious victim (the non breathing unconscious victim will now call under Guideline 8: CPR)

GUIDELINE 4 - Airway • Minor error in FBAO flowchart corrected

GUIDELINE 5 - Breathing • References to signs of life removed as these are open to interpretation and feedback from member organisations suggests that the term ‘signs of life’ is confusing. • Focus on unresponsive and not breathing normally as the indicators for resuscitation.

GUIDELINE 6 - Compressions • References to signs of life removed as these are open to interpretation and feedback from member organisations suggests that the term ‘signs of life’ is confusing. • Focus on unresponsive and not breathing normally as the indicators for resuscitation. • If unwilling / unable to perform rescue breathing, then perform compression only CPR. • Pulse check downgraded for health care professionals as it is an unreliable indicator of the need for resuscitation. • New focus on maintenance of CPR quality including recommendations to change rescuers every 2 minutes to decrease rescuer fatigue and maintain depth and rate of compressions. • New section on use of prompt devices in clinical use as a part of an overall strategy to improve quality of CPR. NEW GUIDELINE

GUIDELINE 7 - AED Use In BLS • This is a new guideline recognising the role of AEDs as part of BLS in both out of hospital and in hospital environments. • Clear recommendations that training in AED use should be part of BLS education.

GUIDELINE 8 - CPR Changes as per airway, breathing, compressions and AED guidelines • Increase emphasis on bystander CPR as life saving intervention. • Compression: rescue breathing ratio remains at 30:2 • Steps in resuscitation are now DRS ABCD - check for Danger - check for Response - ‘S’ has been added for Send for help - ‘A’ directs rescuers to open the Airway - ‘B’ directs rescuers to check Breathing but no need to deliver two rescue breaths - ‘C’ directs rescuers to perform 30 Compressions to victims who are unresponsive and not breathing normally, followed by 2 breaths - ‘D’ directs rescuers to attach an AED as soon as it is available • The major change is that in the victim who is unresponsive and not breathing normally, CPR commences with chest compressions rather than rescue breaths. • If unwilling / unable to perform rescue breathing, then perform compression only

CPR. BLS FLOWCHART • Highlights ‘Send for help’ • Enables compression only CPR if unwilling / unable to perform rescue breathing. • in victims who are unresponsive and not breathing normally, CPR commences with chest compressions rather than rescue breaths.

GUIDELINE 10.1 - CPR Training • Regardless of the recency of CPR training or re-training, any attempt at resuscitation is better than no attempt and should be encouraged • Duration of CPR courses has not been determined. • Prompt / feedback devices can be used in training as an overall strategy to improve quality of CPR. • The optimal interval for retraining has not been established, but need for refresher training for individuals who are not performing resuscitation on a regular basis is recognised. • Recommendation that individuals trained in CPR should refresh their CPR skills at least annually (opposed to undertake assessment annually).

GUIDELINE 10.2 - CPR Instructor Competencies

DELETE GUIDELINE 10.3 - Cross Infection Risks & Manikin Disinfection • No major changes

GUIDELINE 10.5 - Legal And Ethical Issues • Is undergoing a major re-write and will be released in 2011.

The majority of Guidelines in Sections 11 - Adult Advanced Life Support, 12 - Paediatric Advanced Life Support , and 13 - Neonatal Guidelines have been updated to December 2010.

To promote safe and responsible use of  jetski's or personal water craft (PWC), NSW Maritime developed the 'Ride Right' safety package– including a DVD, a mobile phone pouch, a new behaviour sticker that is compulsory to attach to all PWC's, a flier, a booklet outlining safety requirements, and a website page aimed to promote safe and responsible use of jetskis.

 

Two-time world surfing champion Tom Carroll and five-time world PWC champion Kylie Ellmers are safety ambassadors for Ride Right.

 

Tom is a professional waterman and uses a PWC's with his Storm Surfers team to tow onto massive waves in some of the most remote places on earth, while Kylie is at the pinnacle of the sport winning her fifth PWC title recently in the USA.

 

Tom Carroll said:"PWC's are awesome craft and make it possible to catch waves we have never ridden before but you need to know what you are doing and ride right."

 

Kylie Ellmers said:"PWC are not just another toy ... they are a powerboat, just smaller, and you need to know the rules for safe use."

 

The Ride Right safety education package was made with the support of the Boating Industry Association and other stakeholders in a bid to improve the culture of safe behaviour on NSW waterways.

 

Risk Response + Rescue offer a range of Nationally Accredited  water and marine safety and rescue competencies including the safe and responsible use of personal watercraft. The company also provides support services and training in the use ofpersonal rescue craft.

 

NSW Maritime PWC-Handbook.pdf

RR+R have recently been successful in their Renewal of Registration as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) including a significant Extension to the Company’s Scope of Accreditation.  This involved an Audit of RR+R’s compliance as an RTO against the Australian Quality Training Framework - Essential Standards for Registration.

 

RR+R was formed in 1998 and since that time the Company has worked closely with various industry sectors and organisations with unique operational risk exposures to attain one of Australia’s most comprehensive scopes of accreditation specialising in competencies and skill sets for high risk operational environments.

 

RR+R’s scope of accreditation now contains over 750 specialised Units of Competency from 16 independent training packages to meet the demands of their clients and specialised industries.

 

The extension of scope will compliment the full range of services currently offered for land, alpine, mining, aviation and marine sectors.

 

Several of Risk Response + Rescue's VET Partners will be rolling out the new competencies from their respective industry training package in training and assessment programs in the near future including; Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service (Aviation Training Package), Australian Defence Force - Special Operations Group (Public Safety Training Package),  Newcrest (Resources and Infrastructure Industry Training Package), Australian Lifeguarding Services (Public Safety Training Package), and Marine Rescue New South Wales (Maritime Training Package).

The National Quality Council (NQC) has endorsed a new design and structure for Training Packages as part of the VET Products for the 21st Century project.

 

The Streamlined Training Packages are the culmination of more than two years of research and consultation by the NQC. The New Training packages will be accompanied by ‘Companion Volumes’ to provide guidance to RTO’s. It is intended the new format will be more user‐friendly and easier to use.

 

In summary;

• The Streamlined Training Packages will be written in simplified language, shortened, and contain appropriately segmented content.
• There will be a greater focus on assessment, knowledge and foundation skills
• Units of Competency will be simplified to be an expression of performance standards only - explicitly listing foundation skills.
• Assessment requirements are to be strengthened and given their own section.
• Required skills will be expressed in Elements and Performance Criteria.
• The range statement is to be renamed RANGE OF CONDITIONS and will reflect context and operating conditions only.

 

The NQC has agreed to a transition period until the end of 2012 for Industry Skills Councils to update all Training Packages.

Work Safe Australia has released the draft model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations and model Codes of Practice for public comment.

Safe Work Australia is currently developing a National OH&S model for Australia intended to result in the harmonisation of all occupation health and safety laws towards a national and effective OH&S system.

The consultation period is open until Monday 4 April 2011 and can be viewed at http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/Legislation/PublicComment/Pages/PublicComment.aspx

 

The events that have unfolded in NZ over recent weeks have been a tragedy that no-one would ever want to re-live... unfortunately these events have occurred in the past, and it is likely they will occur again in the future.
 
Coal dust explosions are extremely violent events that statistically, for the families, offer no closure for those who do not escape by their own means.
 
The most tragic of these events in Australia have occurred in our own region here in the Illawarra... the Bulli mine explosion occurred in the escarpment above the green bridge passing over the Princes Highway at Bulli. 81 men and boys in teen's died in the first deadly blast in the region. An unconscious boy was blown out of the tunnel mouth with blast debris by the force of the explosion... miraculously he lived - he was the only survivor. The eighty one bodies were recovered and are buried at Bulli and Fairy Meadow.
 
At Mt. Kembla Colliery 96 men and boys died in the now famous 'Kembla Mine Disaster'. The sound of the explosion was reported to be herd in Wollongong and Thirroul – over 15 kilometres away. This remains Australia’s largest single loss of life in peace time, and the largest loss of life in an Australian industrial accident.
 
At Appin another underground explosion resulted in the death of 14 employees in 1979.
 
As history repeats itself today and the mining communities around the world mourn those lost at Pike River, there is an extract from the Sydney Morning Herald dated 9th August 1994 below to remind us of the heartache felt by the townsfolk of Moura - the eleven miners who perished in Moura were never recovered.
 
Of note, when these events have occurred the 'rescue' statistics are sobering... to my knowledge following a coal dust explosion, in NSW no-one has ever been rescued. In Queensland, Mine Rescue Teams have successfully rescued two miners - since the implementation of the mines rescue Acts in Queensland in 1925 and NSW in 1926 we have never lost any mine rescue team members attempting rescue in NSW. Since the same Act was enacted in Queensland 24 rescuers have lost their lives re-entering mines to save lives or to extinguish fires.
 
There are countless other explosions that have resulted in many lives lost in other Australian mining communities and literally hundreds of thousands of miners that have perished in these events internationally.
 
Today, at 2PM New Zealand time (Midday NSW summertime), 29 tables will be set with miners cap lamps and 2 minutes silence will be held for the loved ones lost at Pike River - today is their day. During the 2 minutes silence we should also remember those who have suffered the same fate in the past and the loved ones who survive them and hope that events of this nature never occur again.

Those honoured today…

New Zealanders:  Joseph Dunbar - 17, Benjamin Rockhouse - 21, Zen Drew - 21, Michael Hanmer Monk - 23, Samuel Mackie - 26, Brendan  Palmer - 27, Blair Sims-  28, Riki Keane - 28, Stuart Mudge - 31, Christopher Duggan - 31, Andrew  Hurren - 32, Kane Nieper - 33, David Hoggart - 33, Glen Cruse - 35, Daniel Herk -  36, Terry Kitchin - 41, Francis Marden -  41, Richard Holling - 41, Conrad Adams - 43, John Hale -  45, Milton Osborne -  54, Peter O'Neill -  55, Allan Dixon -  59, Keith Valli – 62

Australians:  Joshua Ufer  - 25, William Joynson -  49

UK - England: Peter Rodger - 40

UK - Scotland: Malcolm Campbell - 25

South Africa:  Jacobus Jonker - 47

 

The entire team at Risk Response + Rescue extend their sincere condolences to the families and friends of those affected by this  tragedy.

 

Paul Shrubb

Managing Director RR+R

 
Entombed: Moura Mourns Its Dead
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday August 9, 1994
By JOHN HUXLEY

 

Some wore stubbies and thongs, others flannelette shirts and Wranglers. Some sported broad-brimmed Akubras, others, peaked baseball caps carrying the Moura Mine logo. Some sobbed, most simply stood granite-grim in the bitter southerly wind.
Coalminers and cattle workers, townsfolk and countryfolk, men and women, young and old, they came, united by shock and a shared sense of personal tragedy to Moura's Rotary Park yesterday to learn the latest news of attempts to rescue 11 men trapped underground in the central Queensland mine since Sunday.

 

This was no time, no place for a show of emotion. Still less for histrionics. A handshake here. A nod there. Just a few words of introduction from the district vice-president of the United Mine Workers Union, Jim Lambley, which urged the community to "stick together more than ever" and as far as possible to ignore the madding media, whom he described as a necessary evil in the present crisis.

Then, with the help of sketches drawn on a whiteboard unloaded from the back of a ute, Mr Lambley and his colleagues, Pat Heumiller and Bill Allison, gave a remarkably dispassionate account of the state of the rescue attempt. They explained it remained stalled as rescue crews stood by, still waiting for the dangerous concentration of gases in the gallery where the men were trapped to clear."I know there are men here who are prepared to risk their lives to save the lives of those trapped, but we have to be realistic," said Mr Heumiller.

The union officials, shouting to be heard above the whistling wind that sent red dust swirling in all directions, did not seek to disguise the gravity of the crisis. The crowd wanted and was given hard technical details of the limited options left open to the rescuers. Afterwards there were few questions. Almost as quickly as they had assembled the crowd dispersed, returning to the proper privacy of their homes, leaving the streets of Moura deserted, as they have been since Sunday night's accident.

TV cameramen, warned earlier by police to keep away because of the"volatility of the people", were pushed angrily away.
Within an hour there was a flurry of activity on the streets as people rushed fearfully from their homes, shops and offices to find out the cause of a loud explosion. Way to the south-east of the town, black smoke quickly smudged the brilliant blue sky. There had been another blast in the mine.
It was sickening. As Paul Marks, a Moura miner for 19 of his 37 years, said: "Absolutely nothing can prepare you for something like this." Within hours his worst fears were confirmed, when after telling the relatives of the 11 men, union and BHP officials announced that the rescue attempt was to be abandoned. The mine was to be sealed, the trapped miners entombed.

 

The explosion came as rescue teams were desperately drilling bore holes to lower extra gas detection equipment into the mine and preparing to despatch a Numbat remote-control vehicle down the mine to better assess the chances of safely sending in rescue teams.
The general manager of the BHP Australia Coal group, Mr Bob Flew, said the second blast "led the company and mining unions to the inescapable conclusion there was no longer any hope of survival for the 11 men".

Mr Marks, president of the Moura branch of the union, was on holiday with his family in Yeppoon when he was woken in his hotel at 1 am on Monday with news of the first explosion. He returned to Moura immediately to help with rescue operations and community liaison.
"We're all brothers here," he explained. "We feel for each other."

He added: "Even before the final decision, the mood in the community was one of deep shock. Obviously everyone is absolutely devastated."
The Prime Minister, Mr Keating, extended his deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the 11 men. "I am sure that the thoughts of Australians everywhere will be with those affected by this tragedy," he said.

 

The Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Downer, also extended his sympathies.
There has been speculation that the ill-fated mine will close permanently with a loss of 150 jobs, dealing the town a further blow.
Mr Marks says some men will now almost certainly decide to quit the coal industry or at least seek a transfer to the open-cut operations. And privately BHP officials are questioning whether it will be possible ever to resume underground operations, especially as the reserves are becoming increasingly uneconomic.
But reports of Moura's and the mine's demise are premature. Underground operations produce only a quarter of the mine's annual output of 4.1 million tonnes.
Meanwhile local support groups have begun mobilising to help the many bereaved families and friends. As one local businesswoman said, "this is the bush, everyone is affected in some way".

 

The dead men are: John Robert Dullahide of Moura, 44; Darrell William Hogarth, Moura, 46; David Brian King, Banana, 24; Geoffrey Mazzer, Biloela, 45; Mark Reginald Nelson, Moura, 36; Robert Allan Newton, Banana, 39; Robert Parker, Newcastle, 39; Christopher Robert Ritchie, Moura, 27; Michael Edward Ryan, Moura, 31; Michael Edward Shaw, Moura, 27; Terry Gordon Vivian, Moura, 49.